Stowable aircraft landing gear are stored in their stowed position in landing gear bays within the aircraft wing or fuselage or combination thereof. In many aircraft, the space within the wing or fuselage is limited resulting in a need for the landing gear to occupy as small a space as possible. Landing gear bays are commonly closed by a door or combination of doors. To deploy landing gear the bay doors are first opened and the landing gear is then lowered. Once the landing gear is fully deployed some or all of the bay doors may be closed to improve the aerodynamics or ground clearance of the aircraft. The landing gear retraction operation is the reverse of the deployment operation.
One problem is that as the wheels of the landing gear pass the corresponding open bay door during extension or retraction a high degree of aerodynamic interference occurs which increases stresses on the landing gear and bay door structures and is also associated with undesirable noise, vibration and aerodynamic drag.